DEVELOPMENT OF SPORT FISHERIES IN THE NETHERLANDS

DEVELOPEMENT DE LA PECHE SPORTIVE AUX PAYS-BAS

by

B. Steinmetz
Directorate of Fisheries
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
Bezuidenhoutseweg 73, The Hague, The Netherlands

Abstract

This paper describes a supply-demand analysis which has been elaborated in the Netherlands with a view to arriving at an optimal allocation of the available sport fishery resources in each province and also on the national level.

Résumé

L'auteur décrit une analyse de l'offre et de la demande faite aux Pays-Bas en vue de permettre une affectation optimale des ressources en matière de pêche sportive dans chaque province et à l'échelon national.

1. INTRODUCTION

During the First European Consultation on the Economic Evaluation of Sport and Commercial Fisheries (1972) the attention was focused on the data needed by the Inland Fisheries Administration for the development of an inland fishery policy (Steinmetz, 1972). It was stated that policy planning should distinguish between the following stages:

-    the formulation of objectives based on normal and factual data;

-    the indication of the alternatives to realize the objectives;

-    the selection from the alternatives by the responsible authority after consultation with the interested parties;

-    the establishment of a policy for the near, middle and distant future;

-    the evaluation and possible adaptation of the policy pursued.

In dealing with this problem it becomes clear that first of all information with regard to the present and to the future should be available, viz:

-    urban and regional planning and outdoor recreation;

-    numbers of anglers and commercial fishermen and their distribution;

-    availability of fishing waters.

Secondly, that a supply-demand analysis (model) should be made. Such an analysis has to be made on three levels, namely, national, regional and local. Based on the results of the national angling survey (ITS, 1975) the (national) policy of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is critically reviewed, but no fundamental change of this policy seems to be needed.

Angling in the Netherlands is an increasingly important form of outdoor recreation in which all groups and classes of the Dutch (male) population participate. In 1972, 1.4 million Dutchmen (97 percent male) went fishing once or several times in the Dutch rivers and inland waters; especially during the summer weekends. About 800 000 male legal anglers (with fishing license) (average fishing frequency per season 43 times), 400 000 male illegal anglers (average fishing frequency at least 11 times) and women and children younger than 15 years form the total angling population.

Clear-cut wishes of legal anglers (those with a fishing license) with regard to special angling waters do not exist. However, in general they want clear and clean water with a good fish stock - especially roach/rudd and bream - in a natural and quiet environment within a short distance from their homes. It is also important to know that 70 percent of the fishing trips of the legal angler is made to the same spot; furthermore about 70 percent of them fish from the same place during the whole fishing trip. In many aspects there is a striking resemblance in the behaviour of the Dutch and the English course fisherman (N.O.P. Market Research, 1971). It is clear that the allocation of the available resources to improve the inland fisheries must be based on a detailed supply-demand analysis. On the other hand, it is a national responsibility to enlarge (or diminish) the available resources. The long-term policy of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is given below:

-    to make the Dutch rivers and inland waters, where usable for fishing, suitable for angling and commercial fishing. Priority is given to sport fishing without neglecting the interests of the commercial side. For the IJsselmeer¹ (200 000 ha) a committee with representatives of both groups advises the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries;

-    to improve the value of the Dutch fish stock for both groups;

-    to develop new opportunities for anglers; especially near town areas;

-    to place the responsibility for the management of scale fish (e.g., bream, roach, pike) on the anglers association but leaving the management of the eel to the commercial fishermen. Consequently, local angler clubs manage the fish stocks in local waters whereas regional master-organizations will do this for waters of regional significance;

-    to promote further cooperation between angler associations with the purpose of enlarging the coverage of the general fishing permit introduced in 1974 for large public waters;

-    to draw up a supply-demand analysis for each of the eleven provinces for the sport fishery every five years.

¹ With priority for the commercial fisheries

Most of these aims are for the moment realized step by step (Steinmetz and Westerdiep, 1972). Attention should now be paid to the set-up of the supply-demand analysis which will soon be initiated.

2. SUPPLY-DEMAND ANALYSIS

2.1 General Set-up

It was decided that these eleven supply-demand analyses should be based for comparability purposes on the same framework. A commission with participants from different departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries was appointed to set up this framework which will give the opportunity to arrive at an optimal allocation of the available resources in each province, and also at the national level.

2.2 The Supply

Within the framework of this supply-demand analysis each province will first be subdivided into units, which, from the fishery point of view, can be managed or can be considered as a management unit. Different types of units are distinguished;

-    Polders

-    Reservoir systems (lakes, etc.)

-    Rivers, canals, etc.

-    Various other waters (gravel/sandpits, city ponds, etc.)

Within these units sub-units can be introduced. For every sub-unit the following information will be entered on a standardized computer form, whereas the information mentioned under points 4–13 will be indicated on topographical maps 1:10 000:

1. Official name and location

2. Type of water (mentioned above)

3. Surface (hectares)

4. Length of banks (in metres)

5. Average depth (in metres)

6. Desirability to use fishing boats

7. Number of landing stages

8. Slipways

9. Facilities for handicapped anglers

10. Water area and length of banks not used for sport fishing

11. Area(s) used by sport and commercial fishermen

12. Limitations with regard to the fishing right, accessibility (juridical and/or technical), talus, bank and water vegetation and water quality. All the measures are given in metres or hectares.

13. Use of the same water by other outdoor recreation participants. When the inventory has been made it will be possible to obtain information about the available fishing waters (surface, bank length, etc.) directly by the use of a computer. Measures can be checked when the supply-demand analysis is made.

2.3 The Demand

For a first exploration of the demand for fishing possibilities in each province during the next five years - up to 1980 - the assistance of the Institute for Land and Water Management Research (ICW) in Wageningen was asked. The following information proved to be of importance for the investigation:

-    data on numbers of legal anglers in each province during the period of 1963–74 (Directorate of Fisheries, 1963–74);

-    results of the national angling survey (ITS, 1975);

-    prognoses of the development of the Dutch population (RPD, 1974).

The data on numbers of legal anglers in the Netherlands are based on the licenses issued. Three types of licenses are in existence:

-    the angling certificate - for fishing with one rod only, no bob, spinning and live baiting (not needed for children under 15 years);

-    the angling license - for fishing with two rods, a bob spinning and live baiting (earlier called small angling license);

-    the fishing license - for all types of fishing gear permitted by law. Because of the relatively small number issued, they are not considered (earlier called big angling license).

For each province the trend in the issued numbers of angling certificates and angling licenses was studied in relation to the population growth and the time factor.

Two equations were used, in which the time is the explanatory factor;

- linear regression equation	Vt = a.t + b	(1)
- logistic equation		(2)
Vt = number of licenses issued in year
a, b, α, γ and ς parameters to define

It was possible for the angling certificates to construct a logistic growth curve for five of the eleven provinces. However, the upper limits are quite different. In the province of Utrecht the upper limit is 2.75 (± 0.09)¹ angling certificates per 100 inhabitants, while in Friesland this is 7.2³ (± 0.34)¹. This probably cannot be explained by the availability of fishing waters.

¹ Standard deviation at 95 percent certainty level

The number of angling licenses per 100 inhabitants in the period up to 1980 in all the eleven provinces can be estimated more accurately with a linear regression equation than with a logistic one. The following demand model, which will be tried out in the near future, has been developed for an estimate of the number of fishing trips to be made during the period of June up to August 1980:

D80	=	(3)
D 1980	= number of fishing trips in the period of June up to August 1980
P	= population in 1980
	= number of anglers with an angling certificate per 100 inhabitants in 1980
	= idem with an angling license
IF	= illegal fishermen in 1980
Y	= younger people under 15 years in 1980
f 1.2.3.4.	= fishing frequency in 1980 of the different groups

The restriction of this demand estimate for the summer period is based on data with regard to the fishing frequencies in different periods (ITS, 1975) and on the assumption that the participation in other forms of outdoor recreation is than also at its highest.

One of the problems to be solved is that in six of the eleven provinces the number of angling certificates per 100 inhabitants in 1980 cannot be estimated with the equations given earlier. As a first approach the total number of legal anglers per 100 inhabitants in 1980 will be studied with the logistic growth equation. Because of the fact that the number of anglers with an angling license can be estimated with linear regression, the difference between the total and the latter gives an idea of the number of anglers with an angling certificate (per 100 inhabitants in 1980).

Besides the information on numbers of legal anglers, information must be available with regard to illegal anglers, youth, fishing frequencies with distribution on summer, autumn and winter, distances travelled and anglers fishing in other provinces.

The number of illegal anglers in this investigation was estimated based on the results of the National Angling Survey (ITS, 1975). Information was gathered about the geographical distribution of the legal and the illegal angler.

Thus it became possible to calculate the number of illegal anglers per 100 legal ones, which results in the factor β, needed for the following formula:

It is supposed that this factor will be constant within a period of five years.

Information with regard to sport fishing by young people is scarce. Research into the leisure activities of boys and girls in the age group of 10 to 16 revealed however that one girl to three boys fishes instead of 1 female to about 30 male of the groups of 15 years and older (ITS, 1974/75). Only a rough estimate based on total population data can be used. It is supposed that the group includes approximately 5 percent of the total population and that they fish with the same frequency (48x) as the age group of 15 to 24 years old (ITS, 1975).

An examination of the available information (Table 1) confirms that the results of the national angling research can be used for the demand model.

Table 1

Fishing Frequencies in Several Studies

^a Bank fishing
^b Boat fishing
^c Course fishermen

The total demand for fishing trips per province during the period June–August can now be calculated. However, three steps have to be determined before indications can be taken from a supply-demand analysis. The first step is a further allocation of the total number of fishing trips in a province to the municipalities in that province. This can be done as follows:

Dn'		(5)
Dn' '80	= number of fishing trips from municipality n in province x
Dx' '80	= number of fishing trips in province x
ACn	= number of angling certificates issued in 1972/73 in municipality n
ALn	= idem for angling licenses
ACx	= total number of angling certificates issued in 1972/73 in province x
ALx	= idem for angling licences

The number of angling certificates and licenses issued per municipality are published (Steinmetz, 1974). Normally every year this information will be available as a report. Furthermore, it has to be pointed out that this approach (5) is possible only because a very small percentage of all licenses issued were bought in another place than the dwelling place of the angler (ITS, 1975). However, it is possible that large numbers of foreign anglers will be attracted by, for example, good trout catches as happened on the Veerse Meer in 1968–71.

The second step is the introduction of the distance an angler is prepared to travel. The National Angling Survey (ITS, 1975) makes it clear that about half of all fishing trips are made within a distance of 5 km of the dwelling and 60 percent within 10 km. The average distance to the fishing water that is visited most frequently is 12.5 km. However, 21 percent of the anglers travel 20 km or more.

Generally speaking the fishing waters should be located near the town areas in accordance with the long-term policy of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Recreation and Social Work. A distance of up to 10 km will therefore be chosen.

Under special circumstances, however, as in the case of very good catches, the angler is prepared to travel greater distances, as happened at Grevelingen (Steinmetz, 1973).

A solution for fishing trips made to other provinces is still under study. The last step before the supply-demand confrontation is the allocation in time, which month(s), day(s) and hours have to be considered. Two possibilities are studied. The first is the construction of exceedance curves (see Figure 1) (and the choice of a “norm day”). The results of three small studies (Steinmetz, unpublished) and a more theoretical approach (Lier, 1971) indicates that they are quite different:

-    “Hoensbroek” is a town pond of 5 ha;

-    “Wellerlooi” is a newly created fish pond of 1 ha, about 2 km from the small village of Wellerlooi;

-    “Achttienhoven” is a polder at a greater distance from urban centres;

-    “Lopikerwaard” is also a polder at a distance of about 10 km from the nearest city.

Moreover, the number of fishing trips made in the late afternoon (17.00 hours and later), which depends largely on the location of the area, has a strong influence on the shape of the curve.

In Hoensbroek more than 25 percent of the fishing trips made in the summer of 1975-almost 10 000 on 5 ha of water - were started at 17.00 hours or later. In Wellerlooi within the same period almost 9 500 fishing trips on only 1 ha of water, 19 percent concerned “evening trips”, while in Achttienhoven with 4 300 fishing trips on several ha of water only 4 percent were “evening trips”. Nor is it clear whether a chosen “norm” day concerns a Saturday or a Sunday. Therefore a more direct approach was tried. In the following table (Table 2) this is done for the three areas already mentioned.

Table 2

Percentage Per Day of the Total Fishing Trips - June up to August 1975 for Three Objects

After the solution of this problem the circulation factor has to be taken into account for the calculation of the maximum-momentary visit. (This factor is 1.5, while the maximum-moment of the visits is reached at 21.00 hours on weekend days as well as on weekdays (ITS, 1975).) The problem indicated here above will be studied more thoroughly. It cannot be denied, however, that it has also political aspects because of the influence of the distance. Some studies were initiated. On six fishing areas postal inquiries were handed to the visiting anglers during two or three summer days, while a greater number of countings of anglers visiting these areas was organized. With regard to this approach it is interesting to note that the response, with one reminder after a week, was as high as between 70 and 88 percent.

The information gathered concerns age and sex, dwelling place and fishing frequency, species fished for, catches, etc., place of departure, etc.

It will be clear from what has been written above that no results are yet available with regard to the angling supply-demand analysis per province. One of the methods Kerstens (1975) mentioned, namely the synagraphic mapping technique as described by Hodges and van Doren (1975), may give the solution.

3. REFERENCES

Hodges L. and W. van Doren, 1975 Synagraphic Mapping ex a tool in locating and evaluating the special distribution of municipal recreation facilities. Journ. of Leisure Res. Vol. 4 nr. 4 1975, 341.353

ITS (Institute for Applied Sociology), 1972 Angling in the Netherlands - a preliminary sport-fishing survey in the Netherlands (in Dutch), Nijmegen 1972

ITS (Institute for Applied Sociology), 1974 Scouting Netherlands (in Dutch), Nijmegen 1974

ITS (Institute for Applied Sociology), 1975 The Dutch Angler - a study of the characteristics, behaviours and wishes of anglers (in Dutch), Nijmegen 1975

Kamphorst, T.J., 1969 Angling in central Utrecht (in Dutch), Bull Soc.Inst. of State Univ.of Utrecht No. 55, Utrecht 1969

Kerstens, A.P.C., 1975 Prognosis, Research for the benefit planning of outdoor recreation facilities (in Dutch), Recreatie onderzoek en Recreatie prognoses, T.H. Delft Werkgroep Recreatie/Landschap Afd. der Bouwkunde

Lier, H.N. van, 1971 Capacity Calculations for newly to create inland beaches (in Dutch), Verkeerstechniek 20(12) & 21(1) Recr. voorz. 12:186–90 & 1:2–6

NOP Market Res. Ltd., 1971 National Angling Survey 1969–70, March 1971

Oostrum, H.J. van, 1971 Results of an angling survey in Drente in September and October 1968 (in Dutch), Cult.Techn.Tijdschr. 1971, 175–88

R.P.D. (National Physical Planning Agency), 1974 Revised provincial population prognosis 1974 (in Dutch), The Hague

Steinmetz, B., 1972 Development of sport fisheries. Contr. to First Eur.Cons. on the Ec.Ev. of Sport & Comm.Fish., The Hague 1972, edited by J.L. Gaudet, EIFAC

Steinmetz, B., 1973 An orientation to the sport fishing possibilities in the Grevelingen bekken. (in Dutch), Visserij 26 jg. (1973) nr. 8

Steinmetz, B., 1974 Number of licenses issued in 1972/73 per Municipality. Doc.Rapp. of the Directorate of Fisheries, The Hague

Steinmetz, B. and A.R. Westerdiep, 1972 Preliminary sport fishing survey in the Netherlands. Contr. to First Eur.Cons. on the Ec.Ev. of Sport & Comm.Fish., The Hague 1972, edited by J.L. Gaudet, EIFAC

Figure 1